Gosh.. this does not seem to end. I wish this went one way or the other and we were spared the glut of news around this on every tech board. Microsoft needs Yahoo to be anything in the internet space and it is as simple as that. For Yahoo it is a good exit plan. But for consumers and internet users, a merger is not good news. We want more competition rather than a few monopolizing the net. Regardless, I wish this would end and we can move onto some more interesting tech happenings and some new ideas in hot areas like mobile.
MT
June 26, 2008
I have been pondering over ever increasing hue and cry about mobile marketing, for a while.
I have been going around to people from US to Europe to India to Australia etc. etc. etc. asking about their views on top 10 points to consider in Mobile Marketing area. Received numerous responses.
To give out the results of this survey, I am putting my views and the results together in a white paper on the same…which will be out soon…
If any of you would like to get the same…please get in touch with us and we will send it promptly. Till then…keep reading and sharing your views/ comments…
VS
June 26, 2008
India is catching up too in number of new startups and number of candidates looking for taking risk early/ late in their careers, to join these startups.
Last weekend, I attended a Startup Lunch event held in Delhi (India) as a team building exercise. About 25 startups registered for the event and about 18 presented their businesses to 80+ prospective candidates. Many candidates were interviewed by these startups and results were almost mind blowing. Many candidates were hired by more than one startup.
I also presented showcasing CellStrat’s products and services. We got lot of attraction from almost all present there. This is because Mobile applications area is still a brand new area and people are just now beginning to get their hands around mobile data apps and uses.
Although venture funding companies are investing less in Indian companies in comparison to other countries, but good ideas and people behind the same have no fear and quite a few might become successful.
VS
June 11, 2008
The new 3G iPhone is creating substantial buzz. Check out Om Malik’s interview with Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility.
http://gigaom.com/2008/06/09/att-mobility-ceo-new-3g-iphone-game-changer/
One of the concerns is that increase in mobile data usage for social networking, LBS or streaming video apps is going to cause a lot of network congestion on AT&T wireless network. Mr de la Vega is confident that AT&T network can handle it. For more power users of mobile data, the hope is that they are smart enough to use WiFi connection on the iPhone to download large data files instead of congesting the wireless network. A future filled with FMC devices like Femtocells only makes sense here. Femtocells will allow bandwidth hogging home wireless to pass on broadband wireline connections allowing the wireless network to remain somewhat available.
AT&T is taking some hits on its earnings estimates due to the lowered iPhone price and Apple is taking a hit as well as AT&T will no longer share the subscription revenue. But overall sales volume is expected to increase dramatically with the lower price and that is expected to more than compensate for the lower price on the device.
The new iPhone is loaded with good stuff. The App Store will allow for a slew of cool consumer and enterprise apps. The enterprise support is great with MS-Exchange integration. GPS is cool for LBS accuracy.
Nokia and RIM need not fear however. iPhone will only increase smartphone penetration increasing the size of the market for everybody. We feel the smartphones will cannibalize the non-smartphone cellphone market to some extent.
MT
June 10, 2008
Steve Jobs of Apple announced today the availability and details of 3G iPhone. It is available in the US from July 11 for $199. Not sure if if AT&T is discounting it or Apple is willing to sell it at a lower price (compared to $399 for the previous iPhone version). The new iPhone is a 3G device with GPS Mapping, a loaded App Store which houses some cool iPhone apps, MS-Exchange integration (attack on RIM turf - the enterprise?), and GPS. Apparently it is a 8GB device at $199. There is a $16 GB version at $299.
GPS is cool - it will drive Location Based Services and related applications like advertising, finder services and social networking.
MS-Exchange support is cool too as it will help in more enterprise adoption and cause some headaches to the folks at Research in Motion (Blackberry manufacturer).
The price is great too for cost-conscious customers.
Apparently 3G iPhone will be released in 20 countries.
We are excited and cannot wait to lay our hands on the new 3G iPhone.
MT
June 9, 2008
Read a very interesting article on social media in Business Week.
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2008/db20080219_908252.htm
In summary, Business Week published a cover story in a 2005 issue of the magazine describing influence of blogs on the world, on corporations and the way people connect. They find that that 2005 article remains one of their most widely read articles on social media and so they decided to refresh the same article with fresh ideas and latest reports on social media and re-published it in the last Business Week issue.
The article talks about how social media is changing rules in people’s lives, in corporations and how some bloggers have teared down corporate hierarchies, created new ways of networking and changed the global communication ecosystem. There are bloggers who get more links than Businessweek.com itself and several media powerhouses have had to adapt or change their attitude to social networking to still be relevant. May low level employees have created new business models within corporations gaining a new kind of influence against the upper buttoned-up types. Well we are active bloggers so we could not agree more. Our own blog has been getting very high hits and we have gained a new visibility in the world with people contacting us from all over for all sorts of mobile and technology ideas and discussions.
We are starting our twitter service soon to experiment with this micro-blogging service.
We believe in social media and feel that this will continue to create upheavals in the corporate and consumer world.
MT
June 1, 2008
ComScore, the online usage measurement firm, acquired M:Metrics, the mobile specialist in usage measurements for $44.3 million. This amounts to a market consolidation in mobile measurement industry and also a convergence of mobile usage reporting with general online measurements.
This makes ComScore a top firm in mobile measurement space - an area which has seen huge growth rates in recent times with advertisers desire to track and report on user adoption of mobile data services and advertising.
The Nielsen Co. is the other top player in this space.
MT
May 29, 2008
Microsoft is trying to buy your searches. The new program, dubbed Microsoft Live Search Cashback, sounds like some sort of cash rebate program similar to what you see in loyalty programs at retail stores or credit cards. Is it a wise move for Microsoft ? Will it turn the page for Microsoft vis-a-vis Google’s overwhelming market share in search business ?
We think the idea has some merit but for the most part it is an act of desperation. After all, searches are not for sale. People search in the hope to find good matches for their searches and advertisers go to search engines where they see consistent scalability and return on ad dollars. Microsoft has to do better on various other aspects of search like better searches, better ROI to advertisers, more relevant ads. Today, a small number of folks use Microsoft Live search - roughly 9.1% of US searches are done via Microsoft Live vs 61.6% for Google. Simply buying searches is not going to do it. This is classic Microsoft, if you can’t win on business model or innovation, use financial muscle to buy your way in. This may work but only in large partnership customers of Microsoft who will be hounded by Microsoft’s aggressive sales personnel to replace Google search box with MS Live search. For the vast majority of consumers and businesses however, their Google search box isn’t going away anytime soon.
MT
May 22, 2008
On the subject of Net Neutrality, the editorial team at Telephony Online (www.telephonyonline.com) wrote an interesting note on “traffic shaping”, or the practice by telcos to inspect packet traffic and do bandwidth prioritization. User-generated content or P2P traffic like Video (YouTubes of the world) are congesting the global network and telcos want to control this kind of traffic and police it. The telephonyonline article can be accessed at :
http://telephonyonline.com/software/commentary/dpi-p2p-traffic-0519/
Editor Carol Wilson at telephonyonline.com writes “By enabling ISPs to identify P2P traffic and employ “traffic shaping” that prevented that traffic from taking over available bandwidth during times of congestion, DPI was supposed to give ISPs greater control over the quality of their networks.” DPI stands for “Deep Packet Inspection” or an ability to inspect data traffic and apply throttle control above certain loads. “Latency-sensitive traffic such as voice and video would get one level of QoS, best-effort data another, and P2P another. “, according to Wilson.
Wilson gives example of BCE, Canada which resorted to traffic shaping causing a headache for various ISPs. This has angered independent ISPs whose traffic is being policed by BCE.
Network Congestion and Traffic Shaping are vexing problems with great ethical and regulatory implications. We feel telcos should be able to recoup their heavy return on investment in the core network and have a right to resort to some bandwidth control eg we disagree with the idea that a couple of apps like YouTube and others should hog the bandwidth on the internet and all other low volume apps are left hanging high and dry with regards to bandwidth availability. But a balance is needed via regulation where carriers cannot control the internet traffic to the extent that they inhibit internet from functioning and end up throttling innovation instead.
MT
May 20, 2008
Success of Facebook ( www.facebook.com started by Mark Zuckerberg, erstwhile student at Harvard) has inspired a new generation of entrepreneurs at Harvard University to drop their quest for high-pay jobs and instead try a start up model using Facebook as a role model. Many students in Harvard are starting their ventures while on campus and some of them are shifting to Silicon Valley right after school or some even while in school. Read the full report at Wall Street Journal Online at :
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121124707865805855.html?mod=hps_us_editors_picks
Some interesting startups to come up from Harvard since Facebook are : iLike (http://www.ilike.com/), Scribd (http://www.scribd.com/) and drop.io (http://drop.io/).
We hope this culture spreads to other campuses. Who better to create innovative startups than the fresh minds on campuses around the world !!
MT
May 20, 2008
